Return to the Great Trunkroad

More or less forced to absence, I was, from this blog.

Happy to let you all know that I've recently regained access to it again.

Sorry you all had to miss out on several of my played games.

Nothing really new, apart from that I have set my Napoleonic ambitions aside.

Colonial adventures keep me occupied game-wise. Followed directly by Ww2 theatres.

Thats paratrooper and special operations actions, from all parties, mainly.

Below, a frozen moment from a now running game. Just for atmosphere.

Nick will know it, as will regular readers of this blog too. There was an earlier posting, covering the same scenario. Nick did that, some years ago. It was published here.

It's situated in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

From the scenario booklet Colonial Conflicts.

Badli Ki Serai; the roadblock to Dehli.

I play this solo using a hotchpotch of rulesets that together, suit me well.

What we see in the picture is just after turn 5 (of 8).

Mutineers in the centre, sandwiched from both flanks by 2 'Her Majesty's and West Indian Company' brigades. A third brigade hangs in front of the blockade and does little damage.

The serai, (a caravan restingplace, a bit like an inn) on the righthand side, has already been overtaken by the British troops.

Above two pictures show the initial layout of the gametable. (1) British depoyment zone (2) Walled village of Badli Ki, mutineers left flank (3) Mutineers centered, improvised barricades and gun positions (4) The serai, forming the utmost right flank of the mutineers (5) swamp terrain (6) the Great Trunkroad leading to Dehli.

Contemporary print resembling the storming of the sandbagged heavy gun battery on the center-right of the mutineers.

Deployment of Her Majesty's and Honourable West India Company's forces. The marked brigade (Grave's) got separated from the mainforce, got lost and entered the field later during the battle and in another spot. There's an arrival table in the scenario, to regulate this.

In above photo, the third brigade, housing all cavalry elements, enters the field front the mutineers left flank (as per the scenario). Ordered to make this manouvre by the C-in-c, based on recce.

Zulu Movie Tribute Game

 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the release of the movie Zulu. Seeing this film on the big screen on its initial release helped spark my lifelong interest in British colonial history. I have run Rorke's Drift games in 54mm before, but after the surprise gift of a set of Conte Collectible buildings, I decided to run a game based on the movie and not history. As it turned out, using the movie defense layout made it more difficult for the British with a larger area to defend, which worked well for the wide screen shots of the movie but handicapped the British as the distances made it challenging to plug gaps. Victory conditions for the Zulus were to capture two out of three: the hospital, the storehouse/church and the redoubt. Victory condition for the 70 British was to score 150 kills, approximately half the  historic number, which would stop the attack. Rules used were The Men Who Would Be Kings, with special rules for the fight in the hospital. Following the movie, I even had cattle in the kraal, ready to stampede the unsuspecting Zulus. The Zulu players were limited to three units per side in the initial assault, with recycled units being placed randomly. There were nine units of sixteen Zulus in the first assault. The British were allowed to use one unit, spending two turns, to construct the redoubt. The Zulus centered their main attack on the northeast corner of the defenses, which were lightly defended. They managed to climb onto the roof of the storehouse/church and infiltrate into the redoubt and the church. Progress was slower for the Zulus on the west and northwest, but poor fire dice rolling allowed the Zulus to come over the south wall and from then on the British were doomed. When I have run the game before, using the historic layout, the result was a much closer game, but, even though the odds were against the British players this time a good time was had by all.

P.S. The British had to roll any pair of doubles once a turn to release the cattle. They finally made the roll on the last turn, too late to affect the outcome.

The soldiers in the hospital were not allowed to begin evacuating the wounded until the Zulus attacked the building.

Lt. Bromhead and Corporal Schiess defend the south ramparts

The cattle, ready to stampede

South ramparts stand ready

First Zulu move on the north ramparts

Full screen shot of the north ramparts

Lt. Chard defending the north ramparts

The fight inside the redoubt

Zulus inside the church

Poor Surgeon Reynolds

The north ramparts hold.

Zulus inside the south ramparts

The last stand of Lt. Bromhead